Recent work jointly funded by the Australian Sheep Industry Cooperative Research Centre (Sheep CRC) and Meat and Livestock Australia has found that the rate of pH and temperature decline of a carcase can significantly affect eating quality. The muscle pH of a carcase declines post-slaughter from 7.2 to about 5.5 due to the conversion of muscle glycogen to lactic acid. If the rate of pH decline is too slow (high pH at low carcase temperature), cold shortening may occur. Cold shortened meat is tough or even inedible.
Read more—Achieving target pH
This research was funded jointly by the Sheep CRC and Meat and Livestock Australia.
This research was funded jointly by the Sheep CRC and Meat and Livestock Australia.
